With the approaching closure of the nursing house, residents have been instructed to look exterior of Guelph and increase their horizons for a brand new house
The longer term is unsure for residents at LaPointe-Fisher Nursing House, which is ready to shut its doorways on the finish of November.
Mary Dolderman, 73, has lived in Guelph for the reason that Seventies. She moved into LaPointe-Fisher six years in the past. Now, she’s unsure the place she’s going to go.
The Metcalfe Road nursing house introduced its impending closure in April, surprising all 69 residents and over 100 workers.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Dolderman mentioned. “I was shocked when I heard. We’ve been told all along that they were building a new Lapointe Fisher,” she mentioned.
However she thought maybe she would possibly lastly get to maneuver into considered one of her prime three selections: St. Joseph’s Well being Centre, The Elliot or Riverside Glen.
When she first moved into LaPointe-Fisher (her fourth alternative), she was instructed her case file could be left open, and whereas she was bumped to the underside of the waitlist, she would finally transfer into considered one of her prime three selections, possible in a yr or so.
That by no means occurred, however since her file remained open and 6 years later she was close to the highest of the listing, she felt safe realizing that’s the place she could be transferring to.
Just a few weeks in the past she was even invited for a second walkthrough at St. Joe’s in spite of everything these years. Her brother from Thunder Bay, pondering it will be the ultimate step earlier than she moved in.
However she by no means heard again from them, or any of the opposite Guelph amenities she’d been ready for.
“It was such a letdown,” she mentioned. “I felt abused. You get your hopes so high, and then get dashed to the bottom of the barrel.”
A house care coordinator has since been in contact with residents to assist them by the method.
“We were told to expand our horizon and look outside of Guelph,” she mentioned.
St. Joe’s has 240 licensed beds and 905 individuals on the ready listing as of July 31, whereas The Elliot has 85 beds and 952 on the waitlist, and Riverside Glen has 192 beds and 944 on the waitlist.
Her daughter lives in Rockwood, so she’s contemplating Wellington Terrace in Fergus, which has 176 beds and 713 individuals on the waitlist.
She went to see it a couple of weeks in the past, and feels significantly better having seen it in particular person.
However nonetheless, transferring out of Guelph is problematic for her, and her considerations concerning the course of stay.
“We don’t get a firm answer,” she mentioned. “I want to stay in Guelph,” she mentioned.
When requested for touch upon how the method of transferring residents is being dealt with, LaPointe-Fisher directed GuelphToday to Ontario Well being atHome, which works with residents to transition from a long-term care house scheduled for closure to a different long-term care house.
The group is answerable for guaranteeing a resident’s assessments are present, finishing capability evaluations, figuring out eligibility, counselling a resident about their choices and assessing for house care if the resident needs to be discharged right into a household or retirement house.
Requested what the chance of residents staying in Guelph could be, how far they might find yourself, and the way the entire course of works – particularly if their case information have been nonetheless open from earlier than – they responded with the next:
“As with all long-term care applications, patients provide consent and select the long-term care home(s) they wish to apply to. We don’t distinguish between homes that are privately-owned, rather we work with the resident or substitute decision-maker to support the patient’s needs and preferences in choosing homes. We then work with the home to safely transition the resident to their new accommodation,” a consultant for the group mentioned.
Apart from being Dolderman’s house of a few years, Guelph can also be house to her longtime household physician, who she trusts and desires to stay with.
The house in Fergus instructed her she must go away her household physician and use a home physician there.
“It’s important for me to keep (my doctor) because of my history,” she mentioned.
It’s additionally the place her associates are, like Sheila MacInnis, who mentioned she’s nervous concerning the impression the sudden change and uncertainty is having on Dolderman’s psychological well being.
“She just assumed she was going to St. Joe’s,” MacInnis mentioned. “Then they finally told her she had to keep an open mind and she wasn’t getting in there, that she had to look at places outside of Guelph.”
“(It’s) something you can’t just turn on and off, your body reacting to not knowing where one’s going, knowing that you’re probably not going to get the three other places (you want),” Dolderman mentioned.
“I’ve felt really down in the dumps to be honest,” she mentioned, including that different residents are feeling the identical.
“You try to keep your head on straight and think, well, I don’t know where I’m going to be living, and that’s not a good feeling for anyone. It’s just been a really rough time for all of us.”
